Page 64 of Finding Closure

And then I was the final judge. Me or Neldor and any two randomly selected commanders. Those were rare cases that were appealed or no one could really agree on.

So yeah, I aced that class after proposing those changes and people liked them… And Faerie’s Legislation. I’d already done all of that with proposing the laws and setting up a new system to vote. Redoing how our military and police would be—I aced everything. My master’s project as well.

Practical Enchantments II was for me to learn more of the basics, and I wanted more of that even after I graduated. People should always keep learning and growing, and if I was to be the beacon of what people in Faerie aspired to, I wanted to make sure that was always part of my life.

There was now going to be an Advanced Healing class at Artemis and hopefully at a few other of the colleges. We’d started something amazing with that class, and even if a few were still bitching that I wasn’t as transparent as I’d promised to be, no one could deny the results.

And that people were being pushed to do more with their magic and minds again.

So yeah, aced that too.

That left New Magical Development III… And given I kept doing new things like power gauges for specific magic, I was pretty well covered. Those hadn’t been a thing before, and now anyone in Faerie could go see how much magic I truly had to save them all.

Apparently, it was profound for them to experience and shut a lot of my haters up. Mostly because they were probably scared of me now, but I didn’t care as long as my life was more peaceful.

It wasn’t really part of my class, but I did create a new portal to Earth like my dad wanted while he was still around. I did it to one of the sanctuaries I’d bought that any supe could use for safety and would always have Guardians stationed at.

I also took down several portals that had been problematic or could be in the future given where humans had expanded cities or areas from. Once I was queen—and in my spare time—I wanted to do a full audit of every portal and a security threat assessment of them even.

As much as I’d used the portal to Faerie in the Townsend house, one didn’t need to be there. We could open portals like we breathed. Fewer portals for the wrong people to find or try and attack was always smartest.

Most people seemed to agree with me.

Once it was time for finals, I made sure to have a discussion with Edelman on the side after discovering a few things I’d heard the commanders whispering about.

“I’m not sure I truly thought we’d ever make it here,” he admitted once I was seated.

I snorted. “You have no idea how many times I truly almost fled this place or had to stop myself from burning it to the ground.”

He simply blinked at me for a full minute and clearly didn’t know how to process that. “What can I do for you, Your Highness?”

“If there’s a chance that I’m valedictorian, take my name out of the running,” I told him firmly. “I don’t mean to sound egotistical—”

“You are the presumed valedictorian of your class,” he confirmed.

I sighed. “No. Just… No.”

“Whyever not?” he asked gently, his tone confused and not upset. “You have come so far, and—no one has worked harder. You started so far behind the line of everyone else and—”

“Because I know that. You know that. Everyone who truly cares for me and values me knows that, Headmaster.” I gestured to his door and meant everything outside of it. “The rest of them won’t. It will be another shitstorm of this being unfair, and honestly this time I won’t disagree with them.” I shrugged when he frowned. “This school wasn’t set up for fairies.

“I did have an unfair advantage, and my last years of classes weren’t even Artemis’s curriculum. I’m also going to be Queen of Fairie. I broke the curve, not just topped it. That’s not fair to fuck with the final rankings of everyone else. Not when they will be judged because of where they land to go get jobs and more. I’ve also got too much else going on to deal with that fallout.”

He was quiet for several moments. “You know some will judge you if you aren’t at the top.”

I shrugged. “Make what I’m doing known. I don’t care. There’s nothing wrong with this conversation. Given this schoolwasn’t designed for complete fairy attendance all six years, I recuse myself from the final graduation ranking. That’sfair.” I held up my hand when he went to argue. “I also don’t want it.

“I’m a mess, Headmaster. My coronation is around the corner and that’s enough focus, thanks. My dad will leave me then. I have to grieve and establish my government—my plate isfull. It’s so full that full isn’t a strong enough word. It’s beyond overflowing, and I don’t have the emotional capacity to also handle a valedictorian speech and the attention.”

“As you wish,” he accepted. “Yes, I fully understand your mature reasons. I will make sure a statement is put out today.” He cleared his throat. “Thank you.”

I nodded as I stood. I hadn’t thought of the flak he could get but yeah, I could only imagine the amount of headaches he would receive from people bitching if I was the top spot.

However… “You’ll let me know if it’s really me, right?”

He snorted. “It’s you, but yes.” He rubbed his chin. “I’m curious to see who it will be now. The next three are fairly close, but your roommate will probably take it.” He nodded when I couldn’t hide my shock. “She was always one of our brightest students, but now that you’ve helped her with her magic—she’s unstoppable and could have vast options if she hadn’t already found a position.”

“Make sure that gets spread around as a favor to me.” I smiled when he winked at me.

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